The Interviewer Becomes the Interviewee

It’s always weird for a person who interviews people for a living to then be interviewed. Such was the case a few weeks back for me for an article in the St. Louis Beacon, the online daily newspaper here in St. Louis.

Beckett, wife Lauren, Owen, and Flip the Dog.

Excellent Beacon freelance Kristen Hare did a story about Dads who work from home. It turned into a nice article, as she made me sound better than I deserved. Through all my years of freelance work, I’ve interviewed people who were good at being interview and not-so-good at it. I’ve come up with some definite ideas of how to prepare to be interviewed: Ask for the questions in advance, answer slowly and thoughtfully, make some notes on key points you want to have come out and have them in front of you, and never hesitate to say: “You know, I need to think about that and get back to you!”

Of course I did NONE of that. Ha! But luckily I wasn’t the only one interviewed. And it does bring up an issue that is important to me — how society looks at child-rearing, and why it’s important to not get tied down with stereotypes. For example if it works out, having that man be the primary caregiver is an excellent option. I even touched on that in my book.